Can anybody tell me how to use the "please call me" function on Sunrise? We cannot figure it out, cannot find it on the internet, and are battling to find someone working for Sunrise who talks enough english to help. This is a very basic function all cellphones have in South Africa, and we assume (hope) they do here too.
I am well connected with that Company. No-one I know has heard of this. Any more clues as to where you heard of it or in what context it is meant to be used?
There is no such functionality that I can find on the Sunrise network for this. USSD is not currently billable (at Sunrise) so I would not expect such a functionality to be available.
It sends an SMS saying "please call me" without charging the person who sends it, so a free SMS sent so that the other person phones you back. Used very often by kids and teenagers. It just takes a few keystrokes instead of typing out the whole message. Used in SA by Vodacom & MTN, not sure about Virgin Mobile. Originally intended to be used when kids are in trouble I think. I guess it doesnt exist here then, pity.
my phones have "Please call me" (LG and Nokia) as the first option in a list of available templates. Why not use a template? or a have one saved as a draft message you can use many times over.
These are not free and cost the same as any other sms I send.
What about a "We should talk.." function ? Which sends a template sms including the usual preamble "It's not you, it's me. We don't talk properly anymore and we seem to have grown apart, you are unprepared to commit...".
It would save a lot of time in those special conversations, almost like an advance agenda briefing pack...
Interesting link! USSD isn't available in Switzerland and the only free option left for the young grasshoppers who want to talk to me on the cell phone is to call me and let it ring for about 0.5 seconds. Does it work? Usually not...
Thanks for all the feedback. In SA the "Please call me" can be used even if you dont have any airtime left, which obviously wouldnt be the case here if we use a template. It seems this function isnt available in CH (yet?). Pity, because our teenagers couldnt use the "I didnt have any airtime left" excuse when not checking in or letting us know where they were.
I am not sure how it varies between carriers, but at least one of them allows you to send a few texts while your call credit has expired. I imagine it is for this reason.
USSD is available. USSD allows you for example, to suspend your phone, or divert to to your mailbox, lots of special functions are available. They are usually hidden in the menus on your phones. One good example from Sunrise (whom I have connections with) allows you to check your current balance on a postpaid subscription.
This function is non-existent with carriers here and i for one am quite glad. This is free of charge to the person who sends a "please call me" to you, because you carry the cost of the sms.
It seems you and your family are using prepaid mobiles. I would recommend getting out of this quickly. Once the teens get settled in and make a few friends you will be amazed at how expensive a pre-paid mobile becomes here.
Contracts are much cheaper in Switzerland than South Africa (on a relative comparison) and this includes call rates.
Sunrise offers options on certain contracts where your kids could call certain mobile numbers free of charge (provided it from sunrise to sunrise). If i recall correctly one may choose up to three numbers for this function. So for a small fee you could have the peace of mind knowing the kids are safe and remove any excuse for not keeping you posted.
Not necessarily. The real beauty of a prepay is that it is clear how much you are using, and the necessity to top up can teach kids the importance of budgeting and being efficient.
More importantly for me is that crossing the borders frequently and using a mobile means the phone sometimes switches into stupidly expensive roaming modes which may go un-noticed until the bill comes weeks later if your credit did not deplete rapidly. Past experience of doing this on a contract phone has lead to huge (and unexpected ) bills for international roaming.
There is new functionality from one of the main three providers that allows the user to say switch off roaming, or switch off GPRS/UMTS/WAP (internet) which is another expensive stream. In theory you can even set a limit and receive an alert when you reach 80% of this limit and then again at 100% - even though it's post paid. You can even send the larts to an email address or another swiss mobile via sms. Word of warning though, the balances are only updated every 8 hours or so - it is easily possible to go past the limit. Unfortunately, the explanations are only available in German on thier webpage.